Floods put Coast on shark alert

THE Sunshine Coast is on shark alert as dirty water flowing from the Maroochy, Mooloolah and Noosa rivers flushes a ready supply of food on to our beaches.

In the past two weeks, a dusky shark measuring 3.1 metres and four bull sharks in the 2.5 metre range have been caught on shark control lines off Coast beaches.

State Government shark control program head Tony Ham has urged swimmers to exercise extreme caution in turbid canals and waterways and to follow life guard directions on where to swim safely at the beach.

“Bull sharks are very much target animals for us,” Mr Ham said.

“Their unpredictability is the biggest worry.”

He said sharks of the size caught on the lines in the past fortnight were “animals of concern”.

Swimmers and surfers have been urged to stay clear of the water at the peak shark feeding times of dawn and dusk and to be highly cautious about where they swim.

Mr Ham said while there may not be more sharks about in our waterways, their movement would be increased as they followed the food-rich freshwater plume spilling out of river mouths and on to the beaches.

Swimming conditions have also been made more dangerous because of the amount of debris being flushed into the ocean from the river systems.

The dirty water also poses a health risk with Sunshine Coast AMA spokesman Wayne Herdy saying it is probably partially responsible for some outer ear infections, respiratory illness and a run of vomiting and diarrhoea cases presenting at doctors’ surgeries across the Coast.

However, Dr Herdy said equally responsible was the weather that had forced people indoors and to crowded shopping centres and movie theatres.

Outer ear infections were common at this time of year because of the increase in people swimming both in pools and at the beach, while the flu-like respiratory illness was unusual.

Dr Herdy said some parents were reporting their children had become ill with diarrhoea and vomiting after playing in puddles of water left by the big wet.